The introduction of machine is expected to boost the export of silver jewelries and handicraft products in the international market, which were banned by the European Union in 2010, saying that they contained cadmium - an element known to cause allergic reactions and health- hazards. [break]
After the introduction of the cadmium testing machine, a lab will be set up at Nepal Bureau of Standard and Meteorology (NBSM) and the tests can be carried out in the country itself. The new lab is expected to be operational by the second week of September.
Dilip Khanal, director general of Federation of Handicraft Association of Nepal (FHAN), said that a non-destructive machine from a Japanese company Shimadzu will enter the country this week for the handicraft laboratory and the testing of cadmium content in silver products can start in the country.
The machine is said to easily test the presence of alloy in any metal through Energy Dispersion X-Ray technology - first of its kind in Nepal - without hurting the actual structure. The existing technology in the country to examine the composition of metal products requires breaking of the product to analyse it.
The new machine will check the presence of other metals along with cadmium.
The Ministry of Commerce and Supplies along with FHAN and Nepal Bureau of Standard and Meteorology have jointly procured the machine under the Public Private Partnership (PPP) model at a cost of Rs 12 million.
“Preparations for sending NBSM technicians to Mumbai for training to operate the machine and detect cadmium content is under way,” Khanal told Republica.
With the decline in the export of silver products, handicraft exporters are pinning their hopes on the cadmium testing lab.
According to the data compiled by Trade Export and Promotion Centre (TEPC), the high cadmium content in silver products has reduced the export of silver jewelries by 61.6 percent during the first eleven months of the fiscal year 2010/11 as compared to 47.3 percent in fiscal year 2009/10.
Bikash Ratna Dhawkha, president of FHAN, said the association is hopeful about the surge in the export of silver jewelries and handicraft products in European and American markets with the establishment of handicraft lab.
According to Tej Ratna Shakya, president of Nepal Gold and Silver Dealers Assocation, the jewelers are found to be using cadmium - a health hazard alloy - in silver jewelries in order to lower the manufacturing cost.
Cadmium is said to lower the manufacturing cost by 30 percent. It is reported that around 35 to 80 percent of jewelries and handicraft products manufactured in Nepal are cadmium mixed.
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